Alexie has long been blunt about culture and identity. He has set some people on edge for other reasons as well. Parents in Oregon and Illinois have asked school districts to remove his young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian, from classrooms. He also caused a stir this spring when he railed against “elitist” electronic book gadets, saying he wanted to hit a woman sitting on a plane with a Kindle. (He expanded on his “visceral, negative reaction to eBooks” in a later blog interview.)

Alexie published two new books this year: Faces, a collection of poetry, and War Dances, a mix of poems and prose labelled fiction but clearly drawing on his own life to explore fatherhood, love, drunkness and politics. He joins us for the hour, a few days before you have to buy a ticket to hear him at the Wordstock Festival. Post your reactions to his work and any questions for him here.